The physical layer data rates (i.e., raw bit rates) of many types of shared communications networks have, in general, increased over time. At the same time, regarding the utilization efficiency of the same shared communications networks, there continues to be room for improvement. The overhead attributed to medium access control protocol is a limiting factor in achieving higher efficiency in shared communications networks. The inherent protocol overhead consists of headers, interframe spaces, backoff slots and acknowledgements as is known in the art. This abundance of overhead limits effective capacity of user data (as opposed to physical layer data) and can contribute to transfer latency. One example of a shared communications network replete with and acutely affected by overhead is a wireless local area network.
In particular, the problem of inefficiency is often greater on some links than on others and can affect an important subset of nodes in a shared communications network. Such is the case in the prior art, as shown in the example of telecommunications system 100 in FIG. 1, where a first set of nodes implemented by terminals 111-1 through 111-5 constitutes first shared communications network 101, where a second set of nodes implemented by terminals 112-1 through 112-5 constitutes second shared communications network 102, and where some nodes (i.e., implemented by terminals 111-3 and 112-1) from each of the two sets of nodes constitute third shared communications network 103. In this example, if a node from network 101 (i.e., a first end node) has to transfer something to a node in network 102 (i.e., a second end node), nodes with access to network 103 (i.e., intermediate nodes) have to participate in the transfer. If the intermediate nodes in network 103 also participate in transfers between other end nodes, the transfers through the intermediate nodes create an area of traffic congestion comprising the intermediate nodes. Furthermore, the latency grows with increased congestion, requiring longer transfer times between the end nodes.
Therefore, the need exists for a technique for improving the utilization efficiency of a shared communications network overall, improving user data capacity and decreasing latency throughout the system.